SOLD BY: ASSESSING THE LEVEL OF STAKEHOLDERS AWARENESS OF SUSTAINABLE DESIGN AND CONSTRUCTION
(A CASE STUDY OF ABUJA)
ABSTRACT
This research work assesses the level of
Nigeria construction industry stakeholders’ awareness of sustainable
design and construction and to enlighten the stakeholders in the
construction industry on green building construction. The selected
stakeholders are the client, architect, builder, quantity surveyor,
civil engineer, mechanical engineer, electrical engineer, planner, and
geo-surveyor. This study seeks to find out whether the above named
stakeholders from selected construction industries in Abuja, Nigeria are
aware of sustainable design and construction and also to find out the
feasibility of sustainable design and construction in Nigeria. The study
intends to identify through a theoretical research how the stakeholders
from Nigeria construction industry can help create awareness, advice
Nigeria and determine whether national building codes cover areas on
sustainable design and construction. The data for this research was
collected through administration of questionnaires and one on one
interview with the selected stakeholders for primary data collection and
collection of the secondary data was through already existing internet
materials, journals, publications, thesis and notes which were well
referenced. It was obtained that majority of the stakeholders were aware
of sustainable design and construction as shown in table 4.4 with a
higher frequency of 43 (53.8%) while a frequency of 1 (1.2%) of the
respondents were obtained in table 4.4 not to be aware of the processes
involved in the design and construction aspect of sustainability. It
was also obtained from table 4.12 with a frequency of 46 (57.5%) that
Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) is more recognized
rating system for sustainable design by the stakeholders while the other
four rating systems (CASBEE, GBTool, BREEAM, and HK BEAM) are not well
recognized by the stakeholders and that sustainable design and
construction can provide healthier, conducive and friendly environmental
as obtained from table 4.29 with a percentage of 52.5% than the
conventional method of construction as analyzed in table 4.25 to 4.29.
It was recommended that stakeholders in Nigeria construction industry
should develop a complete set of sustainable design and construction
performance indicators with suitable metrics that will help in
delivering a good sustainable design.
CHAPTER ONE
1.0 Introduction
1.1 Background of Study
Green building can be described as the
utilization of environmentally responsible methods of optimizing the
efficient use of resources such as energy and water, to maintain a
healthy land, water and air quality throughout the building life cycle.
According to Bourdeau (1999), the first definition of “Green Building”
was proposed by Charles Kebert in 1994, during the first international
conference on sustainable construction in Tampa, Florida. Kebert stated
that “sustainable construction is the creation and responsible
management of a healthy environment based on resource efficiency and
ecological principles”. Green building is also a structure designed to
meet certain life cycle based objectives so that the building can be
designed, built, renovated, operated, or reused in an ecological and
resource efficient manner. Dietz (2001) also suggested that
sustainability (green building) could be thought of as increasing much
of human welfare while reducing environmental impact.
According to Freed (2008), the first truly green buildings dated from 1st A.D.
These were the stone dwellings of the Anasazi Indians (Meinhold, 2009:
online). The best examples of these buildings appeared around the 700
A.D. and consisted of apartment-house-style villages which had beautiful
stone masonry. Freed (2008) mentioned that the reason for considering
those buildings as green buildings was that the Anasazi understood the
sun and heating, natural ventilation, and how to capture water, while
the only materials used were stone, mud and wood. It is important to
note that the ‘Anasazi buildings’ were completely free of toxins and
were healthy. Over the last decade, green buildings have come to be
known as buildings that are designed and constructed with emphasis given
to environmental, social and economic priorities. Most importantly,
building green emphasizes long-term as well as short-term performance
(Horman, Riley, Lapinski, Korkmaz, Pulaski, et.al. 2008).
Practicing green measures and embracing
the concept of Green Building is one of the ways that can enlighten an
individual on how the earth can survive longer in a sustainable way. In
the workplace, for example, employees are seeing the advantages of
working in improved environments which equates to working in a
sustainable building. Employers also recognize the effects of working
conditions as it will have a trickle-down effect within the workplace,
especially, in the productivity of staff. Leaders can play an
influential or even decisive role in how people act. Over the last two
decades, as a global concern, the literature talked about the missing
link between architectural education and professional practice
(Elnachar, 2010).
Sustainable construction is derived from
a broad concept of sustainable development, and terms such as,
“ecological building”, “appropriate building” and “sustainable
architecture” are used to describe “green building”. In the report of
the World Commission on the Environment and Development, Brundtland
(1987) defined the term as “meeting the needs of the present without
compromising the ability of the future generations to meet their own
needs”. Mbamali (2005) conceptualized sustainable construction in the
context of extending sustainability concept to building and construction
activities and this defines the responsibility of the construction
industry in attaining the state of sustainability.
Population growth and housing
development have many impacts on the environment and on quality of life
of the people. However, sustainability is concerned with the social
economic and environmental impact of creating a usable environment.
Adebayo (2002) describes construction sustainability as “building
practices that can be utilized in the long term without causing damage
to the environment”. It is a process of maintaining the balance between
the demands of people for quality life and what is ecologically possible
and which all could reasonably aspire. The green building approach
applies a project life cycle cost analysis for determining the
appropriate up-front expenditure and saves operating costs over the life
of the building.
Construction has significant impacts on
the natural environment (Hendrickson and Horvath, 2000). Currently,
buildings consume approximately 50 percent of the world’s resources. To
reduce this demand, the role of sustainable education needs to be
examined (Adegbile, 2011). The current effort is focused on reducing the
energy intensity of buildings through the use of insulating materials,
low energy lighting and natural ventilation, and not potentially
hazardous toxic materials. Biomass resources available in Nigeria
include fuel wood, agricultural waste and crop residue, sawdust and wood
shavings, animal dung/poultry droppings, industrial
“effluents/municipal solid waste (Sambo, 2009). Many professionals have
accepted Devan Sidjic’s challenge to address the issue of green
urbanism Guy and Moore (2005).
Sustainability is becoming an important
focal point from global construction perspective. In the western
countries, such as the United States of America, the construction
industry is growing sustainability ethic based on the principles of
resources efficiency, health and productivity as stated by Gottfried
(1996). In Nigeria, sustainable construction and sustainability issues
have not received sufficient attention and awareness (Adebayo, 2002;
Dahiru, 2005; and Dania, 2007). This raises the question as to the role
that tertiary institutions can play in creating a more sustainable
future.
To date, stakeholders often do not reach
a consensus about potential benefits; environmental and social
priorities do not have the same weight as financial priorities and they
have misconception about the green premium being much higher than it
really is (Turner, 2008). This project proposes to assess the level of
stakeholders’ awareness towards green building construction in Nigeria
construction industry. Awareness can be raised amongst stakeholders in
the workplace who are taught about the need to conserve water and
instilling the next generation with an environmental consciousness at a
very early age.
1.2. Statement of Problem
Nigeria as a country depends mostly on
crude oil and electricity for its energy fulfillment. Even though, the
consumption of electricity actually declined by 13.4% between 2002 and
2006, the overall or total electricity consumption showed a marginal
increase of 1.8% from 5.63GWh in 2002 to 7.47GWh in 2006 (Sambo, 2009).
Professional bodies in Nigeria have been conducting series of seminars
and conference, to boost the awareness and the adoption of the
principles of green construction and sustainable design by the
stake-holders in Nigeria. Despite the fact that professional bodies are
creating awareness, the awareness level is still low and ineffective.
For instance, professional bodies like the NIQS (Nigeria institute of
the quantity survey) is not pierce to be as engaged as it could, with
just 14% of quantity surveyors agreeing that it was sufficiently active
and visible in green building (Wanipo, 2012).”
The methods by which green building can
be put in place have seriously been overlooked by stakeholders in
Nigeria. The proposed study will check the level at which these
stakeholders in the construction industry are actually aware of green
building design and construction that would lead to building
sustainability in Nigeria.
1.3. Justification of the Study
The knowledge of green building design
and construction is the beginning of a new era for the country. The fast
increment in the number of population within the city of Abuja and the
demand for completed buildings/structures within little time, which
brought about the research on the “Level of Stakeholders Awareness on
Sustainable Design and Construction” to check whether Green construction
is feasible to Nigeria in order to carter for the populace and their
demand for a completed healthy buildings/structures within little time
as compare to the conventional means of building construction.
It is feasible to apply Green
construction principles in Nigeria, and it will also add a considerable
solution to Nigeria’s energy challenges such as the challenge of
connecting most rural areas to national grid for its energy use. Green
construction is also considered essential in the practice of green
architecture and environmental sustainability both in urban and rural
societies in Nigeria. The need has arisen for a sustainable world and
Nigeria cannot be left behind. Developing an awareness of green building
construction is a necessity for stakeholder. Education of leaders and
stakeholders can assist in facilitating the development and adaptation
of sustainable buildings in Nigeria.
The creation of awareness about the
importance of green construction as a sustainability process for
structures would probably increase the demand of sustainability.
Professional bodies are into the implementation of green construction
and the stakeholders need to train and apply its mode of execution on
site.
Therefore, this study seeks to add to
other bodies of knowledge which makes this study to be carried out and
so as to embark on a program that would build up their knowledge of its
construction in order to adopt it within the Nigeria Construction
industry.
1.4. Aim and Objectives
1.4.1 Aim
This research is aimed at assessing
stake-holders level of awareness of green building in the construction
industry of Nigeria, to enlighten the participants in the construction
industry on green building construction. The stake-holders include
owners, investors, developers, architects, engineers and facility
managers.
1.4.2 Objectives
The specified objectives of the research are:
- To identify the stakeholders in the Nigerian construction industry.
- To identify determinants of awareness of green building construction
- To assess the level of stakeholders’ awareness of green building in Nigeria.
- To examine the feasibility of green construction in Nigeria.
- To determine whether National Building Codes cover areas on design and construction of green building in Nigeria.
1.5. Research Questions
From the above research objectives, the following research questions will be sourced out.
- What is the level of stakeholder awareness in Nigeria regarding sustainable design and construction?
- What are the available standards and organizations that are responsible for green building construction in Nigeria?
- Will it help the ongoing building performance evaluation at a macro level in Nigeria to support Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) program evaluation to inform policymakers and other LEED stakeholders?
- What is the need for green construction in Nigeria and how feasible is it to Nigeria economy?
1.6 Need for the Study
The decision to build a green building
that will be compatible with the environment is made early in the design
process. Making a commitment to build green and establishing firm
environmental objectives for the project is one of the problems and must
be dealt with as early as possible because opportunities for
incorporating green technologies and design solutions become less and
less available and increasingly costly to implement as the project
design and construction process progresses. This early decision helps to
maximize the overall success by incorporating the green potential,
minimize redesign, and ensuring the economic viability of the green
elements of the building project. Ideally, the decision to build green
should be made before the site is selected, as many of the green
criteria are affected by site characteristics and some sites are
inappropriate for certain eco-friendly and energy sustainability
projects.
1.7 Methodology
An assessment of the stakeholder level
of awareness about the design and materials used for the construction of
green building will be based on the following:
- Personal observation and/or administration of questionnaires to relevant people concerned
- Data gathered from relevant authorities concerned.
- Review Information from related journals and textbooks.
- Review the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design for Existing Building (LEED-EB) criteria on green building design and construction.
1.8 Scope and De-limitation of the Study
1.8.1 Scope
The scope of this research work proposes
to assess adequately the level of stakeholder awareness towards green
building construction in Abuja, Nigeria based on green building
criteria. Low development in the construction of green buildings in the
country when carrying out this research work has hinder the collection
of data thereby relying on data/information from relevant professionals
in the field, journals, related textbooks, internet and related
reports.”
1.8.2 De-limitation
As a result of time factor and other
considered factors, this research work will be limited to the level of
stakeholder awareness on green building construction in Abuja, Nigeria.
1.9 Definition of Terms
This part of this chapter consists of definition of some terms that are relevant to green buildings as they used in this study.
1.9.1 Orientation of the Building:
The orientation of the building has to be considered according to the
sun position as the picture shows, the house has to be designed in such a
way that the sun heats the house in cold season, but during the hot
time the windows should be in the shade in order to keep it cool. The
size of the windows has to be wide enough to let cool breeze come in.
The sun-impact on the windows and facades
1.9.2 Integrated Design Process:
Building a green building is not just a matter of assembling a
collection of the latest green technologies or materials. Rather, it is a
process in which every element of the design is first optimized and
then the impact and interrelationship of various different elements and
systems within the building and site are re-evaluated, integrated, and
optimized as part of a whole building solution.”
1.9.3 Building Envelope:
This consists of structural materials and finishes that enclose space,
separating inside from outside. This includes walls, windows, doors,
roofs, and floor surfaces. The envelope must balance requirements for
ventilation and daylight while providing thermal and moisture protection
appropriate to the climatic conditions of the site. Building Envelope
design is a major factor in determining the amount of energy a building
will use in its operation.
1.9.4 Sustainable Development:
This is the challenge of meeting growing human needs for natural
resources, industrial products, energy, food, transportation, shelter,
and effective waste management while conserving and protecting
environmental quality and the natural resource base essential for future
life and development. This concept recognizes that meeting long-term
human needs will be impossible unless we also conserve the earth’s
natural physical, chemical, and biological systems.
1.9.5 Life-Cycle Cost Analysis:
This is an increasingly accepted analytical method that calculates
costs over the “useful” or anticipated life of an asset—reveals that low
up-front expenditures, though easier to finance at building inception,
can result in much higher costs over the life of a building or system.
1.9.6 Sustainable Site Design:
Environmentally sound site selection and design are evolving processes
that integrate local needs with the existing natural environment and
pre-existing infrastructure. Designers of local government projects
should be especially aware of such issues as access to the site by
public transportation, impact of development on the surrounding
community, and inclusion of public amenities, such as recreational green
space.
1.9.7 Passive Solar Design:
this is a broad term used to encompass a wide range of strategies and
options resulting in energy-efficient building design and increased
occupant comfort.
1.9.8 Day Lighting:
This is the practice of bringing light into a building interior and
distributing it in a way that provides more desirable and better-quality
illumination than artificial light sources. This reduces the need for
electrical light sources, thus cutting down on electricity use and its
associated costs and pollution.
1.9.9 Photovoltaic (PV) Technology: This is the direct conversion of sunlight to electricity using semi-conductor devices called solar cells.”
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